How To Make Beeswax Wraps
What Are Beeswax Wraps?
Beeswax wraps are similar to plastic wrap that we buy from the store, but its made from cotton fabric and beeswax. Both ingredients are sustainable and can be fair trade sourced!! Beeswax can be cleaned, so it is reusable which is awesome for living a lower waste lifestyle. Because beeswax wraps are reusable you end up saving money by omitting plastic wrap from the grocery bill. I use my beeswax wraps on a weekly basis, if not daily, and won’t be purchasing plastic wrap again! 🙂 Whoo Hoo!!!
Beeswax Wrap uses
There are so many uses for beeswax wraps! The wraps can cover just about any kitchen container as if it were plastic wrap. Beeswax wraps cover drinking glass, Tupperware container, baking dishes, large and small bowls, plates, blocks of cheese, and sandwiches. These are super useful and can be made in all shapes or sizes for whatever you are wanting to cover.
Supplies You Need to Make Beeswax Wraps
- 1 yard or more (depending on how much you are wanting to make) of Cotton fabric, preferably fair trade made.
- 1 fabric scissors (or a pair of very sharp scissors that has the ability to cut fabric).
- 1 Cup of beeswax pellets
- 1 large baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- 1 pair of Tongs
How to Make Beeswax Wraps
- 1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- 2) Then, cut fabric to the specific dimensions you desire. I cut two 9×13 inch, two 7×10 inch, four 5×8 inch and four 4×4 inch wraps. These fit on a lot of my food storage containers and mason jars.
- 3) Once you have all of your fabric cut and ready to go, fit your pan with a sheet of parchment paper the covers the entire pan. (This step is VARY important. I missed this the first time and ended up spending about 30 minutes scraping the wax off and then trying not to burn my hands from the scalding water I had to rinse the pan with to remove all of the beeswax).
- 4) After that lay a single layer of fabric on the sheet and sprinkle the beeswax beads moderately over the entire sheet of fabric. Make sure on the miss the edges because that’s typically where you’re needing the most “stickiness”.
- 5) Place sheet on the middle rack for about one minute. Check to make sure the beads are melted. If not leave the sheet in the oven until you see most of the wax melted. The beads don’t all need to be completely melted because they will continue to melt on the pan once removed from the oven.
- 6) Remove baking sheet from oven and then carefully, using tongs, grab the corner of the fabric and lift from pan. If the fabric is dripping, leave it over the pan until it ceases. There really shouldn’t be any dripping, if that’s the case for you, use less beads on the next sheet.
- 7) Hold it up and gently fan the fabric to encourage it to cool. You will notice it is starting to cool when the beeswax wrap becomes firmer. When this happens you can drape it over a smooth, fabric-less surface to finish drying (I placed mine on the back of wooden chairs in my kitchen as seen on the image below).
- 8) The wraps will be completely dry within 3 minutes. Cooled wraps can then be folded and put away.
- 9) Repeat instructions 4-8.
How to Clean and Care for Your Wraps
Clean beeswax wraps by rinsing the wraps under warm water. The reason you don’t need to always clean with soap is because beeswax is naturally antimicrobial. Using soap isn’t necessary unless the wrap comes in contact with raw foods like meat and eggs. Store in a cool dry place.
I hope you enjoyed learning how to make these beeswax wraps!!!